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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29862597">Surrender</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ecarden/pseuds/Ecarden'>Ecarden</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel, WandaVision (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:55:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>971</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29862597</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ecarden/pseuds/Ecarden</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Spoilers--Wandavision entire series. In cleaning up after the events of Wandavision, the United States adopts a new strategy for dealing with powers utterly beyond it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Surrender</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The joint SWORD-FBI task force dealing with the fallout from Westview was quite dysfunctional. The SWORD agents weren’t very pleased with ex-Director Hayward, but they also weren’t fans of the FBI who had showed up at the end to give their opinion with the benefit of hindsight. And that’s without considering Agent Woo’s assault on SWORD agents.</p><p>So, the bickering continued fairly endlessly until the arrival of a presidentially appointed task-force leader. The man was ex-CIA, short, thin and bespectacled. Only the gigantic scar across his throat indicated that he hadn’t spent his entire career behind a desk.</p><p>“Agent Woo. Agent Crowley. Walk with me. The rest of you, stop focusing on what should have happened and finish nailing down what <em>did</em> happen.”</p><p>His voice was cold as ice and Jimmy and the senior SWORD agent who wasn’t under arrest actually glanced at each other before they followed him. As soon as they were out of the room, the man relaxed a bit, “Actually, I have no idea where my office is, Agent Woo, can you show me the way?”</p><p>The walk over was quiet, but as soon as they were inside the ice was back and the man was seated behind the director’s desk. “I’m not going to mince words agents. This was a colossal fuckup from beginning to end.”</p><p>“Hayward—” Woo began.</p><p>“Former Director Hayward and SWORD failed. He did not successfully kill anyone. You and the FBI failed. You did not save anyone. From beginning to end this was Ms. Maximoff and Ms. Harkness. Everything else was a sideshow,” there was a pause as they all remembered the circus, “no pun intended. If we had not been involved, the exact same sequence of events would have played out. Construct-Vision would have gotten suspicious, Ms. Harkness would have eventually intervened and their battle would have played out. We were entirely irrelevant, despite massive expenditure of resources. Literally the only thing we accomplished was releasing another super-powered being, or two, into the world, uncontrolled.”</p><p>There was a moment as they considered that.</p><p>“Captain Rambeau—”</p><p>“Gained superpowers, immediately went rogue and has now disappeared.”</p><p>The SWORD agent frowned. “What are you saying, sir?”</p><p> “I’m saying our strategy of attempting to control super-powered individuals has failed. The Sokovia Accords were out last, though flawed, attempt and they have failed. The few who held to them are dead, gone, mad, or traitors. Though we will continue research to attempt to advance enough to be able to defend ourselves, we have to accept that at this point some of the powered are simply not bound by the rules of our society. If Ms. Maximoff wants to torture a town full of people, then walk away, she can. If Thor wants to crush a man’s head in a drunken furor, he can. If Captain Marvel decides she doesn’t like something, she can change it. There is quite literally nothing we can do about these things. It’s time to accept that and stop antagonizing them.”</p><p>“It sounds like you’re talking about surrendering, sir.”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“We can’t do that, sir!”</p><p>“Why not? You knew you were facing Ms. Maximoff and with the entire force of SWORD behind you were unable to harm her in any way. Then she turned most of your troops into literal clowns. In your second assault even forewarned, your entire force was defeated by two of her constructs. If you are faced with an enemy you cannot even affect, let alone defeat, surrender is the only reasonable course of action.”</p><p>“Only if we’re at war. We aren’t at war!” Agent Woo argued.</p><p>“We don’t have to be. Their mere power changes how we act. Do you think there’s any chance that congress would pass a law that opposed anything Captain Marvel chose to do? Do you think any cop would try to enforce it? Even if she went along, she could walk out whenever she wanted. Face it, agents, at this point there are people who are above the law, regardless of whether they chose to humor us by complying with it.”</p><p>There was a moment of silence as they considered that.</p><p>“Regardless of that, you said we’d stop antagonizing them, what does that mean?” Jimmy asked.</p><p>“It means all efforts to search for Ms. Maximoff will stop now—”</p><p>“We can’t just let her get away with this—”</p><p>“She needs help! We can’t—”</p><p>“We can’t help her. We can’t hurt her. We leave her alone. As for the rest of this, as of right now, this Task Force is reassigned to deal with Level 1 threats. A full list will be provided. And by deal with, I mean we are going to do our best to minimize the harm they cause and assist them in whatever way they require. If Ms. Maximoff is tired of flying and wants a lift to the White House so she can make the President dance a little jig for her amusement, then you will give it to her and take her there by the most direct route, after calling ahead so that the Secret Service can get out of her way and no one has to get hurt. If she wants to stop for a spot of light mind control and torture on the way, then you’ll try to keep it private and short. If she wants to talk, you’ll do your best to play therapist.”</p><p>There was a longer moment of silence as they stared at him in total shock.</p><p>“We cannot control these people, the best we can do is try to minimize collateral damage. They are entirely outside our rules, our government and our control. Democracy isn’t dead, it’s just outclassed by super-ocracy. May God and the superpowered have mercy on us, because we surely cannot stop them if they choose not to.”</p><p>“Dismissed.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I enjoyed Wandavision, for the most part, but I honestly think it's a lot more of a Cthulu-esque horror story than anything else. At least from any normal human's perspective.</p><p>Comments always welcome.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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